The purpose of this study is to examine whether antiviral medication will help improve psychotic symptoms and cognition in individuals early in the course of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder who are exposed to herpes simplex virus, type 1 (HSV 1), a virus that causes commonly occurring and recurrent cold sores.

The main objective of the study is to evaluate the efficacy of add-on treatment of Valacyclovir (VAV), an antiviral medication, in the treatment of early course schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder patients. Our main hypothesis is that the VAV add-on treatment will improve positive, negative and cognitive symptoms in herpes simplex virus (HSV) positive schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder patients. We hypothesize that the grey matter reductions in specific brain regions (such as prefrontal regions) will improve in patients on VAV + antipsychotic compared to those on placebo + antipsychotic and the improvements in positive, negative and cognitive symptoms will be correlated with the grey matter changes.

Eligibility

Ages Eligible for Study:

18 Years to 50 Years

Genders Eligible for Study:

Both

Accepts Healthy Volunteers:

No

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

Both genders between the ages of 18-50 years

Schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder as defined in DSM-IV

Duration of illness 10 years or less

On a stable dose of an antipsychotic medication for at least a month

Should score 4 or more on at least one of the subscales of PANSS

Positive for HSV1

Written informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

Substance abuse in the last month/dependence 6 months prior to the study

History of, or current medical/neurological illnesses which affects CNS function e.g., epilepsy, head injury with prolonged loss of consciousness

Pregnancy

History of immune disorders, HIV infection or currently receiving immunosuppressants

Subjects on regular antiviral therapy

History of hypersensitivity to Valacyclovir

Mental retardation as defined in DSM-IV

Contacts and Locations

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To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the Contacts provided below.
For general information, see Learn About Clinical Studies.

Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00514449